Regional Boutique IB vs FLDP

Describe the boutique, what’s the average EV of companies it works with, is it mostly buy side/sell side/equity/debt, what have juniors gone on to afterwards, how many employees/offices?

The fact that pay is so low is not a good sign.

Depends what you're interested in as the roles are very different but the pay for the bank sounds very low. FLDP is a great program out of college to put you on a corporate track for large business. Jobs are quite different so would think about what your medium-term goals are. 

You’ve already done IB internships according to your other posts, and from those jobs, you’ve concluded that you don’t want to do IB as a career, which is completely fine. Working 70-80 hour weeks at a regional boutique making $60K a year is not going to make you want to do IB any more either unless your prior teams were so horrible that they weren’t a valid sample.

I think this sounds like a slam dunk for the FLDP. You make more money in the near-term and are better positioned for a job with great pay and fewer hours than IB. FLDPs tend to be rotational as well, so you’ll likely get to see different parts of the organization and figure out what you like, which I sense you may still be discovering these things based on your realization about IB. I would tell you to accept the FLDP, rotate around, and find what is going to fuel you for a meaningful career.

Take the FLDP if it’s a decently reputable / large company. I started at a boutique IB and I deeply regretted that - no clear exit opps to better IBs, hellish hours, shitty pay, crap culture, low quality deal experience, low job stability, etc

Regional boutiques are really a hit or miss. I started at one and lateraled to a BB, then ran laps around my peers.

If it’s a good RB, you’ll get much more responsibilities and it’ll really be sink or swim - there is absolutely no room at all to hide any weaknesses. At BBs (and even some MMs), it’s entirely a political game and “performance” is more or less check the box kind of thing - even at the first year analyst level. You’ll also have a lot more resources (i.e. graphics team, print shop, India team, etc.) and will likely average fewer hours than a peer at a RB.

On the flip side, the market is shit right now and you likely won’t be able to lateral to a bigger name until ‘24/‘25. You’ll likely work longer hours executing/pitching less attractive deals and psychologically, it can be hard to justify the long-term investment. Idk if you want to lateral, exit to Industry or go to the buyside - if the latter, opportunities will likely be regional LMM PEs.

As far as compensation goes, numbers really aren’t comparable without getting more context on location. $125k base salary in NYC feels like $40k whereas $60K in a LCOL area can feel like $100k+. This will be a factor for you to calculate and decide on your own.